On March 20, 2015 awards for the second annual ASTC/USITT Venue Renovation Challenge were presented in Cincinnati, Ohio at the 55th annual USITT Conference and Expo. The Renovation Challenge was created to give student USITT members an opportunity to work with a practicing ASTC theatre consultant and to stretch their skills and knowledge by developing a scope of work for the improvement of an existing performance venue and present it, as they would in the real world to a client, at an USITT Panel with a live audience.

The members of the Yale University team were Jeong Sik Yoo and Mitchell Cramond with Gene Leitermann serving as ASTC mentor with Matt Welander as faculty advisor. The Yale University team selected their subject to be the University Theatre at Yale. The members of the DePaul University team were; Jamie Davis, David Millard, Jackson Walsh, Alyse Porsella, Alexa Santiago, Joe Clavell, Dana Stringer, Nathaly Garcia, Marisa Melito, Jamie Lynn Woods, Vada Branco, and Kevin Kushman with Joshua Grossman as ASTC mentor and Shane Kelly serving as faculty advisor. Their renovation challenge was for the Merle Reskin Theatre (formerly the Blackstone Theatre.) The $750 award was given to Yale University while the DePaul University team received the $360 Merit Award.

“The student teams came through with impressive projects for the second year of the ASTC – USITT Venue Renovation Challenge. Their presentations at the USITT conference in Cincinnati were thoughtful and professional. The Challenge is proving to be a successful conduit for reaching young, talented, technical theater students and exposing them to theatre consulting as a career.” said Mike McMackin, ASTC Board Member.